- I’ve got lots to blog about (decorating!!), and now that we’re having sunny days, maybe I can get good photos so I can actually get some of those posts up here.
- Thanksgiving was great.
- Civilization IV*, a PC game released in 2005, was on sale for $5 at Best Buy on Black Friday. It does, in fact, run quite well on Vista. Any guesses as to what my new addiction might be?
- I am finding such joy in decorating the house for the holidays this year. (My other addiction at the mo’.)
- Thrift stores are fabulous resources for Christmas decorations. Why spend $0.99 for seven replacement lightbulbs, or $1.99 for a brand-new strings of lights, when you can pay $1.99 (and less on sale days) for a used, but working-perfectly string of lights at the thrift store? Thrifting = recycling.
- I need to check the calendar and find out when Hanukkah is this year. We try to light the menorah with the kids but always forget until about halfway through. Or, we start out fine and forget after the first couple of nights.
- We’re flying to Atlanta on Solstice, so I don’t think we’ll be doing a Solstice tree this year. Sniff.
- I should blog about how our not-so-traditionally-religious family celebrates the holiday season. (The last couple of bullet points should be a clue.)
- I should also blog about how no one’s trying to “steal Christmas,” “eliminate Christmas,” or “declare war on Christmas” when they say “Happy Holidays,” but I have a feeling the people who need to hear the message wouldn’t believe me, anyway. I bet they’d be even more ticked off if I went around wishing them a Blessed Solstice.
*Is it proper to italicize the name of a video game? Is it like a movie? Conventions for these new-fangled-type technologies weren’t discussed in my high school English classes.

8:49 am – On the walk to school. We can make it in 11 minutes, if we don’t dawdle, and less if we hurry.
9:01 am – The walk home takes a few minutes longer, because it’s uphill. (It takes even longer if I stop to take photos of the beautiful foliage.)
11:14 am – Driving to the grocery store. Seriously, I get to see this amazing view whenever I go out on a clear day. (This is for all of you who asked why we wanted to move to Seattle “with all that rain.” Days like this are what make the rain completely worth it.)
11:48 am – Grocery shopping. Blah.
12:03 pm – Took the long way home, so I could get you a picture of the lake. That’s Seattle in the distance.
1:44 pm – This is why they call it Fall. I think we need to rake. There’s a porch under there somewhere.
2:23 pm – Unpacking boxes. Slowly but surely…
3:19 pm – Walking to the school, I noticed these beautiful mushrooms growing on the side of our neighbor’s driveway. They’re huge.
3:41 pm – My companions on the school playground while the boys run and shout for a few minutes.
3:45 pm – It’s a really cool playground.
3:46 pm – Ditto.
3:51 pm – Heading home.


The Three Soldiers